Thanks for posting. Looks good! Your attention to lowering your carbon footprint is laudable and patriotic. We installed geothermal heating and cooling last year, but we can't compare "apples to apples" in our energy usage until we have a true same-space benchmark that factors in our newly added space and assures that the "envelope" of the house is resealed after the addition is completed; currently we have too many gaps in our heat/cool retention to collect any really useful data.

Next year, I hope to brag as you have bragged.

Where are you located?
How many Kilowatts is that?

Would you mind sharing the brand and relative cost of your panels as well? It's been an interest of mine, but high up front costs per KW generated have held me back from pursuing it.

We looked into solar/completely off-grid design 5 years ago when we built this house. The bid added 25% to the cost of building. Our coop is not one that allows you to run extra electricity back into the grid, so you're either off-grid, with batteries, on back-up electricity, the cost of which was just tripled, or you're on grid. Just wasn't cost effective; still wouldn't be, even with tax incentives. I wish that were not the case as I'd like to go solar.

Love seeing those pictures, huango! Dh and I were just lamenting our high electric bill. Wish we could do something like that!

IÂm in MA.
Our system = 5.588kW. Even with the cloudy days and we still have one big tree blocking our panels until 10am), I think we generated over 640kW in May.
The time is now for us to get solar panels because:
1. We qualified for 2 big MA credits, which took $10,500 straight off the total cost, which was a BIG helper toward reducing our break-even to just over 6years.
2. The Federal 30% rebate has no cap for solar/etc, which will take almost another $10K off our bill.
3. (KITCHENDETECTIVE) MA does net-metering, which means that on the days that we produce more than we use, the electric meter turns back (to reduce our bill from when we donÂt generate enough and have to buy off NStar electric company).
4. We are locked in until 2016 for SRECs, which are money generated from selling our green credits on the energy stock market (for those who need green credits to offset their horrible carbon footprint). It may/may not continue after year 2016, at the same/lower/higher rate, not sure.
5. And weÂre not moving so after break-even, we could possibly make money (instead of paying over $300/month on our electric bill). And we want to install central air (my husband use to give me a hard time when I want to turn on the window A/C).
6. Lastly, we have a great home equity line with ~2.24% interest rate.
7. And our house faces north, so no one can see our panel (on the back roof). The installers noted that itÂs like our house was built w/ solar panels in mind, in terms of the orientation.

Note: we had to take down 10 big trees to allow more light (which we would have done because our backyard was all moss due to lack of sunlight). We actually want to take down 6 more next winter. BUT I have a nursery growing 9 pine saplings ready to replace some of those trees.

We chose a turn-key solution from a local company who did it all for us. We even had to upgrade our electric panel from 100amp to 200amp, and we can include that in the Fed rebate. They quoted us 3 different panel brands; we chose Evergreen, the 210 panels. ThatÂs like getting a nice base level Audi (the price for the value = efficiency level), vs. the Lamborghini or the Kia.
Florantha:
1. "brag as you have bragged": I hope you do mean in a positive/supportive way because I donÂt mean to upset anyone. IÂm just excited.
2. Where are you located? We looked into geothermal and for our land (only 1.1acres), the cost of digging and the system would be over $35K and the break-even would take over 13years, so it doesnÂt work for us, and we would still need a back-up system for when it gets really cold (often).

correction: 5.88kW

You deserve to brag! As I type, I'm listening to a televised discussion of American energy policy. Without lots of examples, leadership, people in the vanguard, etc., everybody will be waiting for everybody else and nothing will happen.

Years ago at a family party in June, a tornado siren suddenly began to blow. I watched the guests who were seated in the living room look at one another, start to rise, then drop back into their seats. Why? Stupid! They were playing chicken--who was going to take the lead? Who had the courage? Although I was one of the hostesses, I grabbed my infant, yelled, "I'm heading to the basement," and took off down the stairs. I was down there alone for a number of minutes, then I stuck my head out of the deep room and saw that the group had finally crowded to the stairs and the fat, slow old aunt acted like a cork caught in a wine bottle and everyone was trapped above her. Lucky for us, the tornado jumped over the house and continued north. A nearby house was totally destroyed. If not for luck, we could have had terrific casualties and losses.

My point: Somebody has to get going before we get irrevocably stuck in the path of destruction.

Again, thanks for your posting, your involvement with new energy, and your commitment. You are welcome to enjoy your triumph!
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re: geothermal. We have no "back up system" and are in Twin Cities, Minnesota. 7 ton system and 5 200-foot horizontal loops cost us $23000. We got some money back from power company, but are perhaps out of luck for Stimulus money, but we're still trying to get the latter; it's complicated and we couldn't wait for the paperwork when we needed heat last fall (after DH tore out our existing heating system--a long story).

It will pay for itself, in time. In 1979-1980, we installed passive solar in our addition and we're assured that it was worthwhile, although it's hard to prove in wattage numbers, etc. I wish more new construction and retrofits would include the simple concepts of passive solar. Those rooms are the most pleasant in the whole house and our old heating system did not kick on until after 5 pm on a sunny Feb day.

I am lucky to live in such a progressive town.
- the Police Station has solar panels;
- the high school is leasing out their roof space to a company for solar panels and we benefit from the generated energy (without having to pay out for the panels up front).
- 2 of my friends have solar panels, and
- a whole bunch of other neighbors have panels: either photovoltaic or hot water system.

Thanks for letting me share. :)